Mindfulness for naturally negative people

Sometimes people let the same problem make them miserable for years when they could just say, “So what.”
“My mother didn’t love me.” So what.
“My husband won’t ball me.” So what.
“I’m a success but I’m still alone.” So what.
I don’t know how I made it through all the years before I learned how to do that trick. It took a long time for me to learn it, but once you do, you never forget.

I have never been able to use mindfulness because even though its advocates constantly claim it’s not about happiness, it’s really about experiencing your feelings…the truth is people do it because they want to be “happier” in the long run, or at least avoid negative emotions, which to me is a misguided way to go around.

This Andy Warhol quote is great because it is saying the same thing as all the mindfulness stuff, but instead of stupid positivity it just talks about release.

This is also why Stoicism doesn’t get to me like mindfulness does although the way people talk about Stoicism often does…because they go back to having it be a way to be happier, a way to get things done. Which is exactly what I’m against – striving toward happiness through mental trickery instead of a change in material conditions, and relationships with others and the self.

The idea that I could change my mental attitude and be happy toiling away for some inane purpose, with a body that is sick, when relations from my family and community are cut off, and that it is desirable and morally good to be “productive” under these conditions repulses me.

But saying “So what” and moving on is fine. You can say it about anything, even about what you are working against.

“I’m fixated on my problems,”

“So what,”

It’s a statement about how little anything matters in the grand scheme.

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4 thoughts on “Mindfulness for naturally negative people”

I can actually completely relate to this; while I do think SOME of happiness is mental (you can be rich and married to a dream person, but if you’re suffering depression you still won’t be happy) one thing that really annoys me about all of these fads is that people tend to then stop focusing on improving the material things around them and somehow expect results x

Definitely true – but if someone is depressed, they don’t need to “decide to be happier”. They need to change their relationship with themselves or with the conditions that are making them depressed.

On the other hand, some people are upset even when they have enough because they can never be satisfied and are always doubting themselves, comparing themselves to others and wondering if there is actually something better out there than what they have – even though what they have is good. Those are the ones who can benefit from strictly mental changes.

Hi!
I’ve been reading you since few months ago, and your way of thinking is so interesting for me. Do you have instagram account? Something more interactive where I could follow your ideas closely.
Very good job, hope still writing that clearly.